Crazy night ends with big adds for Sun

Marc Allard mallard@norwichbulletin.com, (860) 425-4212 mallardnb

Friday

Apr 13, 2018 at 8:46 PMApr 13, 2018 at 8:46 PM

MOHEGAN – Connecticut Sun coach and general manager Curt Miller sat on a couch in a hallway of the Sky Tower hotel at Mohegan Sun Casino.He had just recently emerged from the “war room” down the hall, where the majority of his WNBA draft day was spent Thursday. The Sun had just drafted guard Lexie Brown from Duke, forward Mikayla Cowling from California and had traded their second-round pick to Atlanta for former Connecticut high school star Bria Holmes.It was the culmination of six months of work, and Miller admitted to being a little “mentally drained.”“Scouting games in person, every night having computers and TVs on when you are not at a game in person, you’re watching free agents overseas,” Miller said. “It’s six months of nonstop watching basketball.”Here’s the kicker: All of that prep essentially comes down to three-minute stretches.That’s the amount of time a team has to register its pick on draft night.Sometimes, the cards aren’t dealt exactly as expected. In fact, in most instances, that is the case.On Thursday, before the Sun made the ninth pick of the draft, several things happened that affected the outcome.The first three picks went as expected, but the Chicago Sky threw a little curveball. Many anticipated them to take UConn’s Azurá Stevens, the 6-foot-6 stretch four who opted to forego her final year of college eligibility last Monday to enter the draft.“Azurá changed some of the draft,” Miller said. “I think without her coming in, Dallas goes point guard. When you didn’t see Stevens go in that three, four or even two spot, you could see it happening.”The Sky opted to go with another UConn player, Gabby Williams, at No. 4 after they chose Diamond DeShields at No. 3.“I’ve been getting that question a lot so I guess everyone is surprised,” Williams said when asked if she was surprised to be the fourth pick. “I had no expectations. I had played every scenario in my head, what could go right, what could go wrong. I was just trying to keep an open mind about it.”Seattle did the expected and drafted Jordin Canada as the heir apparent to Sue Bird before Stevens went to Dallas.“It was really hard,” Stevens said of the decision to leave UConn. “It’s been an amazing ride from the minute I stepped on campus. It was overwhelming how much I enjoyed being there and being a part of the program. It was hard to leave all that behind, but it’s really exciting to begin this new chapter.”When Stevens was taken and Washington followed with Ariel Atkins, Miller knew his choice was about to get harder.Both Kia Nurse and Lexie Brown were going to be available.“It was really a tough and difficult decision down the stretch,” Miller said. “We debated this for weeks in case it did come down this way and it did play out that way.”Miller had tried to coax Nurse into playing for him at Indiana and had also coached her sister and aunt, and is still close to the family.Not only that, Nurse did hail from UConn.“There is always going to be the pressure (to take a UConn player),” Miller said. “We always know the added benefit and some people are going to be disappointed. They don’t realize how hard it is not to take a family that I truly care about, someone I would have given my left arm for to coach in college, someone that I would do anything for. But, I have to take that emotion out of it and do what’s best.”What made it a little easier was that the Sun had already acquired Holmes earlier in the day, and Miller needed depth at the point.On the draft floor in New York, Brown was waiting; more patiently than her father, Dee Brown.“He was more nervous than I was,” Lexie Brown said. “He held my hand the entire time, ‘It’s coming, it’s coming next,’ he kept saying every pick. I’m super-excited to be a part of the Connecticut Sun family.”Dee Brown has already been a part of the extended Sun family. The former Boston Celtics guard coached the Orlando Miracle — the franchise that became the Sun — in 2002.Now, his daughter brings her talent to Mohegan Sun Arena.“I’m a tenacious defender; I have a really high basketball IQ; I can play the point or the two; I have a mid-range J,” Lexie Brown said of her game. “I don’t like contact that much, but I can deal with it and I really like to shoot the three.”As she was leaving the draft floor, Brown said she ran into Nurse — who was chosen with the 10th pick by the New York Liberty — in the elevator.“She said to me, ‘Welcome to the Connecticut-crazy group.’ I was like, ‘I’m so excited,’” Brown said. “(The UConn) fans are amazing, so respectful of all the teams that come through there. To go to a team with a really solid fan base is something that is really exciting to me.”For Miller, his night was over. But the journey was just beginning.“It energizes me to get to (training) camp,” Miller said. “We now know the pieces coming to camp and we need to get there and start working with them.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.